Red Murakami X-Ray Flower

Takashi Murakami was born in Tokyo in 1963 and received his BFA, MFA and PhD from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He has had recent solo shows at Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2003); Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris (2002); Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2001); and Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris (2001). In addition to his work as an artist, Takashi Murakami is a curator, entrepreneur, and a student of contemporary Japanese society. In 2000, Murakami curated an exhibition of Japanese art titled Superflat, which acknowledged a movement toward mass-produced entertainment and its effects on contemporary aesthetics. Murakami is also internationally recognized for his collaboration with designer Marc Jacobs to create handbags and other products for the Louis Vuitton fashion house. Takashi Murakami's work has been exhibited in prestigious museums all over the world, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and a recent solo retrospective exhibition at the Bard College Museum of Art. Through his work, Murakami has played with these oppositions in East and West, past and present, high art and low culture while remaining consistently amusing and accessible. His work morphs the Secret Base is a Japanese art toy company known for its highly collectible soft vinyl figures, often inspired by classic kaiju, horror, and pop culture icons. Founded in the early 2000s, Secret Base became a key player in the designer toy movement, creating limited-edition figures that appeal to both toy collectors and art enthusiasts. Their toys frequently feature collaborations with artists, brands, and even musicians, blending underground aesthetics with nostalgic elements. Many of their figures have a punk or DIY sensibility, often incorporating transparent or glow-in-the-dark materials, skeletal designs, and mashups of iconic characters.